Stairway with movable handrail



NOV. 27, 1951 R BABSON STAIRWAY WITH MOVABLE HANDRAIL Filed Jan. 24. 1950 INVENTOR. RUEIET EELDEDTI,

ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 27, 1951 STAIRWAY WITH MOVABLE'HANDRAI L Roger W. Babson, Wellesley, Mass, assignor to.

Gravity-Research Foundation, New Boston, N. H., a corpc'ration of Massachusetts Application January 24 2 Claims.

This invention relates to banisters in association with a stairway, and more particularly to banisters having driven endless hand rails.

It has long been recognized that a person when going up a stairway spends considerable human energy, and in many cases the effort required reflects on the health of the individual. This condition more frequently arises with heavy individuals and those whose health may not be up to par, although the condition is not limited to this class of people. A person enjoying good health frequently finds it laborious to climb steps, in that in stepping up from step to step, the weight of the body must be lifted, which requires considerable effort.

I am aware that attempts to meet the situation have been made, and in some instances with success, particularly in the use of escalators. However, such constructions are expensive and the use is limited to large stores or the like.

One of the purposes of this invention is to provide an inexpensive structure for small buildings and homes, which in use will require less labor and effort of a person stepping from step to step when going up the stairway.

A further object of the invention is to provide a banister with a driven endless hand rail approximately midway of the stairway, and thus divide it, and a like moving banister hand rail adjacent the side of the stairway to provide means on one side of the stairs to assist a person going up the stairs and yet reserving the other half of the stairway for one to descend in the usual way.

With this arrangement and purpose in view, an ordinary stairway can conveniently be equipped with the improvement so that a person can be assisted in going upstairs, and yet the remaining part of the stairway is usable for descending in the ordinary way.

These and other objects of the invention will be fully set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings: Q

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improve-v ment, parts being broken away.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing internal portions in side elevation.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary detail view showing one of the guides for a banister.

Figures 5 and 6 are fragmentary detail sections of the banisters.

support the band.

, 1950, SerialNo. 1-40,269 (01. 20 10) Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the use of the invention on curved Stairways.

I indicates an ordinary stairway composed of the usual steps 2 with hand rail supporting banisters at the sides thereof.

On one side of the stairway is a banister comprising posts and a channel-shaped guide 4. Traveling over the guide is a flexible endless band, which I will term a hand rail 4a. This endless band is trained, arounda pair of upper pulleys 5 and 5a and twov lowerpulleys 6--a., and is nested in or guided over the guide 4.

To relieve friction when the endless band is in motion, suitable anti-friction rollers .i. are disposed in longi-tudinallyspaced openings in the bottom of the channel of the guide 4 and a plurality of rollers 8 are disposed under the lower stretch of the band beneath thesteps2 as shown.

A corresponding endless band 9 is mounted on a banister intermediate the width of the stairway and is movable in a guide I-ll supported on posts H and trained around an upper pair of guide rollers I2 and I6 and lower rollers 43v and I4, anti-friction rollers 15, corresponding to rollers i, being provided to reduce friction and The upper rollers 5 and 2 are in alignment and are mounted on stub shafts I? and I8, while the aligned rollers 6 and it are mounts-don stub shafts l9 and 20, and rollers 6a and M are mounted on a common shaft 21 so that both endless hand rails will travel together and at the same speed. 1

The pair of resilient hand rails are operated by a motor 22 located under the stairway. and suitably geared to the shaft 2|.

The banister preferably is enclosed by side walls 23, to present a neat. appearance and at the same time provide stability to the structure.

For convenience, when a person desires to descend the stairway without assistance of the movable hand rails, as when ascending the stairway, a banister with a fixed hand rail 25 is provided at one side of the stairway I and a similar fixed hand rail 26 is located intermediate the width of the steps adjacent the intermediate movable hand rail 9.

In operation, it is evident that the three banisters divide the stairway into two parts. For instance, on one side, a person going upstairs will take the steps between the twobanisters having driven hand rails, and by taking hold of the two resilient bands or hand rails with both hands and raising the foot and lifting thebody, the weight of the body is greatly reduced,

due to the fact that the resilient bands lend assistance in pulling or lifting the body when stepping up from step to step.

By actual tests, it has been found that when a person going up an ordinary stairway and using the stationary banister hand rail to assist in relieving the weight of the body, the weight, in effect, is reduced approximately 20%. To further reduce the effort and weight in going upstairs, I have found that the pull of the driven hand rails reduces the weight approximately 30% more. Thus, by use of the improvement, the total weight in stepping from step to step is reduced approximately 50%. Accordingly, when a person is advancing upstairs step by step with the hands on the resilient driven hand rails, the pull on the body at the time of lifting the feet aifords great relief in effort, in that the pull takes part of the weight.

The invention therefore while offering relief by reducing the weight in lifting the body from step to step, in no way detracts from the purpose of the stairway when a person desires to descend, or if one feels inclined to ascend without availing ones self of the use of the endless driven hand rails. In other words, according to the invention, one side of the stairway can be used if one desires to be assisted in going upstairs, or if preferred, the opposite side can be used in the usual way without resorting to the lifting force of the driven hand rails. At the same time, by providing the stairway with the improvement, one is free to descend in the usual manner on the side of the stairway which is not equipped with dual type banisters and hand rails.

Obviously, the invention can be used in connection with a curved stairway. I have, therefore, diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 7 the use of a pair of resilient driven hand rails 30-30 which will be mounted on frames and rollers in precisely the same way and for the same purpose as those described for the banisters shown in Figure 1. Guide rollers 3| and curved guides will be employed to guide the belts.

Inasmuch as the belts are used and located in association with a stairway, as shown in Figure 1, it is not deemed necessary to illustrate the belts in connection with a curved stairway.

What I claim is:

1. A stairway comprising a flight of fixed steps, a banister at the side of said steps, said banister including uprights supporting a channel guideway, a pair of rollers journalled at each end of said guideway with their upper peripheries substantially tangent to the channel of said guideway, a roller journalled below the upper of said pair of rollers and beneath the top of said steps,

a roller journalled beneath the lower of said pair of rollers and beneath the bottom step, an endless resilient banister hand rail element trained in said channel guideway and respectively around said pair of rollers and the rollers respectively therebeneath with the return run portion of said element below said steps, said guideway having longitudinally spaced openings in the bottom of the channel, rollers journalled in said openings to reduce friction between said endless hand rail element and said guideway, and drive means beneath the lower of said steps and drivingly connected with the lower roller to drive said endless hand rail element.

2. A stairway comprising a flight of fixed steps, a banister at each side of said steps, each said banister having side walls closed at the top by a channel guideway, a pair of rollers journalled between said side walls of each banister at each end thereof with their upper peripheries substantially tangent to said guideway, a roller journalled between said side walls below the upper of each said pair of rollers and beneath the top of said steps, a shaft extending transversely beneath the bottom step, a roller journalled on each end of said shaft and respectively between said side walls and beneath the lower of said pair of rollers, endless resilient banister hand rail elements trained in said channel guideways and respectively around said pairs of rollers and the rollers respectively therebeneath with the portions of said elements below said guideways respectively housed between said side walls, said guideways having longitudinally spaced openings in the bottoms of the channels, rollers journalled in said openings to reduce friction between said endless hand rail elements and said guideways, and drive means beneath the lower of said steps and drivingly connected with said shaft to simultaneously drive both said endless hand rail elements at the same speed.

ROGER W. BABSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

